We are still not decided whether to do a hawaii cruise or just a land tour but are leaning toward the cruise--The Ensenda thing is a turn off though....The RT would be a long time at sea but a nice vacation! It's for our 30th anniv. CC--where are you headed on Constellation in '04 or did you already go? We are on her in Sept to canada...

Much cheaper -- but only because most of Celebrity's "Hawaii" itineraries operate one way between Honolulu and the west coast. IIRC, the fine for disembarking passengers in violation of the Jones Act is something like $2,000 per passenger. Here's what the Jones Act permits.

>> A vessel of U. S. flag may embark and disembark passengers anywhere (subject, of course, to the laws of the countries of foreign ports of embarkation and disembarkation).

>> A vessel of foreign flag that has not called anywhere else may disembark passengers in their port of embarkation. (This provision is intended to allow a vessel to return to its port of departure in an emegency, but it also permits a "cruise to nowhere.")

>> A vessel of foreign flag that embarks passengers in any foreign port may disembark those passengers in any U. S. port. Conversely, a vessel of foreign flag that embarks passengers in a U. S. port may disembark those passenger in any foreign port.

>> A vessel of foreign flag that embarks passengers in a U. S. port and subsequently calls at a "near" foreign port may disembark those passengers in their port of embarkation.

>> A vessel of foreign flag that embarks passengers in a U. S. port and subsequently calls at a "distant" foreign port may disembark those passengers in any U. S. port.

Basically, the ports of Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Central America, and all Caribbean islands except Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao are "near' foreign ports while ports while ports of South America, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the foreign islands in the Pacific are "distant" foreign ports under the Jones Act. Surprisingly, the ports of Puerto Rico count as foreign for this purpose.

Now, consider Celebrity's itineraries.

>> Cruises to New England, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and the Mexican Riviera qualify by calling at a foreign port en route and returning to their port of embarkation.

>> Cruises to the Panama Canal, which operate from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale or vice versa, qualify by calling at a "distant" foreign port (Orangestad) en route.

>> European and most South American cruises are not affected since they originate and terminate in foreign ports.

>> Transatlantic itineraries either originate or terminate in a foreign port.

For cruises to Hawaii, there are three options.

>> A cruise that operates one way (to or from Honolulu) may qualify by originating or terminating in a foreign port (either Ensenada or Vancouver).

>> A cruise that operates round trip from a U. S. port (usually either Los Angeles or San Diego) may qualify simply by calling at a foreign port (usually Ensenada) en route -- thus the brief "service call" on these itineraries.

>> A cruise also may qualify by calling at a "distant" foreign port en route. Norwegian Cruise Line has employed this provision for cruises originating and terminating in Honolulu, which called at Fanning Island (Republic of Kiribati) en route. This option actually would allow the ship to disembark passengers in any U. S. port rather than just in their port of embarkation, though I'm not aware of any cruise lines taking advantage of this provision.

Recently, Norwegian Cruise Line has registered its "NCL America" vessels in the United States. These vessels are the only ships operated by a major cruise line that can transport passengers beween U. S. ports without restriciton.

hcat......we are going on the Constellation on it's 13-night Canada/New England out of NY this October 11, 2005. Too bad you are on the September cruise instead, would love to have been dinner or martini mates.

This 13-night cruise is just for this week only. Unfortunately, they cancelled Maine but the rest of the intin sounds great.

We are then on the the Millenium on Jan 2, 2005 for 7-nights eastern carib. Couldn't pass up the great price I got.

I enjoyed the Summit so much last December that we decided to try the sister ships.

All that's left is the Infinity. I still would like to do the 15-night R/T San Diego to Hawaii...just love sea days, but unsure if this could be pretty rough going.

I can't wait to find out how this year's group did on their Dec 5, 2004 cruise over there. If the cruise was good, I might consider it for the future.

When I was on the Summit and booked the Connie trip, the sales agent there told us she just came back from Miami and Celebrity was going to add a few more of th 15-night R/T Hawaii cruises, since it sold out so quickly. Maybe that is why their new calendar isn't out yet.

Just got off the Explorer of the Seas this May, and I'm now a Celebrity fan (even though I enjoyed the Brilliance). I couldn't help but compare it to the Summit cruise we took in Dec. No comparison.

Have you done the 10-night Ultimate Southern Carib on the Summit? If not, it's a fabulous cruise. I would like to cruise the 11-night Western they offer, and thinking about it for next Nov/Dec '05.